ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The sixth-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (20-6, 14-4 NSIC) saw eighth-ranked St. Cloud State (21-5, 13-5 NSIC) put together a furious rally in the final three sets to hand them a five-set loss (25-22, 25-10, 22-25, 22-25, 16-18) on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Golden Bears grabbed the first two sets in the match and held leads of five or more in each in the last three sets, but they were unable to hold off the hard-charging Huskies as SCSU snapped CSP's 27-match winning streak in the series. The win was just SCSU's second in 29 all-time meetings between the two schools.
 
Concordia led the Huskies in nearly every statistical category as they edged SCSU 68-55 in kills, .279-.168 in hitting percentage, 13.0-5.0 in total blocks and 76-64 in digs in the loss. One of the factors in the Huskies victory came in the serving column as St. Cloud State held a 9-8 advantage in aces while also committing seven service errors compared to 12 for CSP.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill reached 20+ kills for the third time in five matches as she put up an incredible 29 kills to shatter her career-best. Her total of 29 was the fifth-most in the DII-era at Concordia while falling behind just Anna Schlaak's 34 in the 25-point scoring format. She finished with an impressive .451 hitting percentage while also adding 14 digs and seven blocks in a massive stat line.
 
Tori Hanson put up a big effort in the back row with a match-high 26 digs while also chipping in seven assists and a pair of aces in the game. It was her ninth game with 20+ digs on the season, reaching 25 or more five times.
 
Payton Nutter fell three assists shy of her career-high with 57 as she made it four straight double-doubles with 10 digs as well. Erin Fallert added 18 digs while Kennedy Brady chipped in 13 kills in the loss.
 
Linsey Rachel paced the Huskies with 16 kills while Clara Krenz put up a team-best 20 digs in the win.
 
It was the Huskies that grabbed the momentum early in the first set as they ran out to a 12-8 lead, but it was all Golden Bears from there as they quickly turned the momentum the other way. CSP rattled off five straight to take a 13-12 lead before an even larger 7-0 run turned a 15-14 deficit into a 21-15 advantage for the Golden Bears. SCSU managed to trim the margin back down to two at 24-22, but the rally came too late as Concordia closed out the opening set 25-22.
 
CSP picked up where they left off in the second as an early 5-1 run gave them a 7-3 edge. They added to their lead with a 4-0 burst a few points later to make it 12-5 before continuing the surge soon after that. With the differential still at six at 13-7, Concordia iced the set with a huge 9-0 run before jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-10 set win.
 
The Golden Bears appeared primed to complete the sweep as they ran out to a 7-1 lead in the third, but the Huskies had other ideas. Concordia remained comfortably out front throughout much of the set as they held a 20-14 lead late, but a 6-0 run erased the deficit for St. Cloud State and tied it up. SCSU extended the run to an 11-2 stretch as they kept the match alive with a 25-22 set win.
 
The fourth set followed a nearly identical script to the third as Concordia saw a big lead disappear late. The Golden Bears jumped out to an 8-3 lead before ballooning the gap to eight at 15-7, but the Huskies came storming back. The lead remained at seven at 17-10 before a 9-2 run pulled SCSU even at 19-19. That proved to be the first of four ties in a seven-point span before St. Cloud State forced a fifth set with a 3-0 run to win the fourth 25-22.
 
After the Huskies grabbed four of the first five points to start the fifth set, the Golden Bears took control with a massive 8-0 run to pull ahead 9-4. That lead would not last, however, as St. Cloud State responded with an 8-2 run to take a 12-11 lead. The two teams traded points much of the rest of the way as SCSU forced match points at 14-13, 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16. CSP survived the first three, but they were unable to survive a fourth as the Huskies completed the improbable comeback with an 18-16 win in the fifth.
 
Concordia closes out the regular season at home this week with a non-conference contest against Wayne State on Tuesday and NSIC matches with Minnesota Crookston on Friday and Bemidji State on Saturday.